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The Gnadenhutten Massacre
The rising hatred for Native Americans was demonstrated in 1782 when 96 Christianized Delaware Indians were massacred by a Pennsylvania militia. After the converted Delawares were accused of attacking white communities, Captain David Williamson ordered them to travel to the cooper shop two at a time, where militiamen killed them with hatchets and wooden mallets. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
The Shawnee commander was incited to fight again in 1811 when Indiana Territorial Governor William Henry Harrison decided to assault and burn Prophetstown, the Indian capital on the Tippecanoe River, while Tecumseh was abroad scouting the Choctaws for more warriors. This time, he convinced the British to attack the Americans with his men. The Ohio frontier became "safe" for settlers after Tecumseh's death and defeat at the Battle of the Thames in 1813—at least temporarily. -
The Creek War
General Andrew Jackson launched a 2,500-man retaliation force, primarily composed of Tennessee militia, in early November 1814 in response to early Creek wins. Jackson and his troops massacred 186 Creeks at Tallushatchee in retaliation for the Creek-led massacre at Fort Mims. "We shot them like!" said Davy Crockett. -
Mankato Executions
The Dakotas maintained their raids after a fatal encounter during a food raid on neighboring white farms resulted in 490 settlers—mostly women and children—being slaughtered in the Little Crow War of 1862. Following a series of mass trials that resulted in the conviction and execution of over 300 Dakota men, President Lincoln dispatched armies to subdue the Dakota. -
The Sand Creek Massacre
Indians fought back to preserve their homelands and people gave American forces sufficient excuse to murder any Indians on the frontier, peaceful or not. On November 29, 1864, John Chivington, a former Methodist clergyman, launched an unexpected assault on the calm Arapahos and Cheyennes on their reservation near Sand Creek in southeast Colorado. -
Sioux Treaty of 1868
A treaty with the Sioux was the outcome of a conference that took place at Fort Laramie in modern-day Wyoming in the spring of 1868. The goal of this treaty was to end hostilities between White people and the Sioux, who had consented to live in the Black Hills reserve in Dakota Territory. -
The Dawes Act
The federal government was permitted to divide tribal lands into separate areas by the Dawes Act of
1887. The only Native Americans who could obtain US citizenship were those who agreed to accept their allotments. By removing their cultural and social customs, the Dawes Act sought to incorporate Native Americans into mainstream US society. Over 90 million acres of tribal territory were taken from Native Americans and sold to non-Natives as a result of the Dawes Act. -
The Library of Congress
U.S. cavalry captain Richard Henry Pratt established the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, a government-backed boarding school, in Pennsylvania in 1879 with the goal of "killing the Indian in him, and saving the man." The school separated Native American children from their parents through force. -
The Ghost Dance
On January 1, 1889, Wovoka, a Northern Paiute tribe shaman, saw a solar eclipse. Wovoka started a spiritual movement known as the Ghost Dance, claiming that God had shown a plentiful country of love and peace to him while taking the form of a Native American. -
The Massacre at Wounded Knee
A gun went off during an attempt to disarm the Sioux, and fighting broke out. The US Army soldiers opened fire on the Sioux, murdering hundreds of men, women, and children without regard for who they were killing. The few Sioux who had survived the fight ran away. The Indian Wars came to an end with the slaughter at Wounded Knee, even though it wasn't the final time Native Americans and the US Army had engaged in combat